She was giving in to him, surrendering.
So why did he feel so damned helpless?
He buried his fingers in her hair and deepened the kiss, wrapping his other arm around her shoulders and pulling her to him. Sure enough, the silk shirt snagged on his rough hand, but when he slid his grip down to her waist the cloth wafted weightlessly over his hand and he was touching her skin, smoother than any silk and warm, so warm under his fingertips.
She shifted in his hands and he started to pull back, but she was moving toward him, not away. He realized with a start that her lips were seeking his as desperately as he’d sought hers. His palms cupped her waist and her body bent backward, arching not to escape but to press herself against him. He moved one hand up her side, savoring the way she shivered as his fingertips ran along the edge of her bra. The other drifted low, stroking the perfect curve of her ass, and she let out a sound that was feminine and wild and totally uncivilized.
Her little tongue touched his and slicked along the side, then dipped teasingly past his lips and flicked out again. That might have been an accident, but then she did it again and they were past kissing. This was something far more, him thrusting, her parrying, and he felt desire spiral up in his loins and make him so hard so fast he thought he’d die if he didn’t reach down and release the pressure. But his hand got sidetracked on the way, sliding over her breast, feeling the soft flesh yield while the lace teased his fingers.
Smoothing his thumb over the curve, he felt her nipple hardening to his touch and had a flash of what she’d look like naked, all that smooth perfect skin and hard, pink nipples begging to be kissed and licked and more. He wanted to take her back to his trailer, pull that slippery little shirt off over her head, and shimmy her out of those tight jeans. He wanted her legs around his waist and her breasts in his hands. He wanted to keep on kissing her, but he wanted more than that—a lot more.
A car door opened in the alley behind them and a slash of yellow light sliced into the shadows. It slanted across her body, traveling from her white throat up to the soft curve of her jaw, rising to light her flushed cheeks. With her swollen pink lips and wide eyes she looked like a sexy Madonna, Venus in blue jeans, tempting and sultry and sexy as hell.
A little wild, too. Her hands raked his chest and he took them in his own so he could kiss her better, but now she really was pushing him away.
“Lane, no,” she hissed. “Wait!” She snatched her hands away and skittered backward, smoothing her shirt, tucking her necklace beneath it. She was buckling her belt too. When had her belt come undone?
“Sorry.” His head was spinning. “What…”
“It’s okay. I—I—it’s okay. I mean, it’s not, but it is.” She was frantically twirling her hair in a frantic effort to redo the ponytail at the back of her neck. He bent down and plucked her barrette out of the dirt.
“Oh. Thanks.” She clipped up her hair with a practiced twist and straightened, smoothing her shirt and squaring her shoulders. “Do I look okay?”
He grinned. “Do you mean like normal-okay, or sexy-okay? Because I’m not sure I’m qualified to judge the kind of okay you want to be.”
He felt suddenly energized. The kiss had made him forget his aches and pains. He’d been hoping this jaunt was something more than a job for her. He’d caught a distinct hum in the air at their meeting this morning, a sexual tension between them that ran both ways.
If only she wasn’t scared of horses.
But wait. That had to be a lie. He’d woken from his bull-riding wreck to see her standing over him, her eyes glowing with an otherworldly light as she held a white horse like some equestrian angel who’d come to carry him to heaven. Maybe he’d imagined it. Maybe it was wishful thinking. But if he was going to indulge in wishful thinking about Sarah Landon, wouldn’t she have been naked?
And there was that necklace. A horse. She was lying when she said she didn’t like horses. He was sure of it.
She frowned and that little crease appeared between her eyebrows. “Button your